- Where
- Averøy and Hustadvika
Møre og Romsdal, Norway - Start / end
- Kårvåg (Averøya) to Vevang; Scenic Route on to Bud
- Length
- 8.3 km causeway road (Wikipedia)
36 km Scenic Route, Kårvåg–Bud (Statens vegvesen) - Bridges
- Seven (Statens vegvesen) or eight (Wikipedia; Store norske leksikon)
- Opened
- 7 July 1989; toll removed June 1999
- Season
- No winter closure listed (Statens vegvesen)
- Fees
- No toll since 1999
- Status
- No winter closure listed (Statens vegvesen); check its traffic map on the day
- Advisory
- Norway Level 1
A road that hops from rock to rock across the open sea, low causeways and then one bridge that rears straight up into the sky and comes down again further on. Spray over the car on the low bits. Little red-painted fishing huts, men with rods on the rocks, and nothing at all to the north but grey water.
Route facts
- Route
- Kårvåg (Averøya) to Bud (the Scenic Route; the causeway road ends at Vevang)
- Length
- 36 km for the Scenic Route from Kårvåg to Bud; the causeway road from Kårvåg to Vevang is 8.3 km (Wikipedia)Checked · Statens vegvesen: Norwegian Scenic Route Atlanterhavsvegen
- Season window
- No winter closure listed; the Eldhusøya walkway and toilets are open every day of the yearChecked · Statens vegvesen: Norwegian Scenic Route Atlanterhavsvegen
- Closures
- Status not read as read We could not confirm the day’s traffic messages from Statens vegvesen on 13 October 2026. Its Scenic Route page lists no winter closure; storms can close the low sections.Live alert: Statens vegvesen: traffic information
- Fees
- No toll since June 1999Checked · Wikipedia: Atlantic Ocean Road
- Cost to enter
- Free
- Anchor point
- Storseisundet Bridge
63.02° N, 7.35° E
The short answer
The Atlantic Ocean Road (Atlanterhavsvegen) is an 8.3-kilometre section of County Road 64 in Møre og Romsdal county, on Norway’s west coast, Wikipedia records. It runs from Kårvåg on the island of Averøya to Vevang on the mainland, across an archipelago of islets and skerries joined by causeways, viaducts and bridges, the longest of them the 260-metre Storseisundet Bridge. It opened on 7 July 1989, and its tolls were lifted in June 1999 once it had been paid off. With the coast road on to Bud it forms the Norwegian Scenic Route Atlanterhavsvegen, 36 kilometres long, according to Statens vegvesen, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, whose route page lists no winter closure. We could not confirm the day’s traffic messages from Statens vegvesen on 13 October 2026; storms can close the low sections, so check its traffic map or call +47 815 48 991 on the day you drive.
Why it's worth knowing
A road laid across the weather. North of the road lies Hustadvika, an unsheltered part of the Norwegian Sea; Statens vegvesen calls the bay “one of Norway’s most infamous stretches of sea”. Work began on 1 August 1983, and during construction the area was hit by twelve European windstorms, Wikipedia records. The route had first been proposed in the early twentieth century as a railway, an extension of the Rauma Line that was never built beyond Åndalsnes. Statens vegvesen now presents the weather as part of the visit: the walkway on the islet of Eldhusøya “stays open every day, all year”, and the experience “may be even more intense on a day when the weather is tempestuous”.
Paid for early. The road cost 122 million kroner, Wikipedia says, a quarter of it financed by tolls that were expected to run for fifteen years. Local traffic and tourists paid it off by June 1999, and the tolls were removed. In 2005 the Norwegian construction industry named it the “Norwegian Construction of the Century”; in 2006 The Guardian called it the world’s best road trip; and in December 2009 the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage protected it as cultural heritage.
A route with architecture. Norway’s Scenic Routes programme pairs its roads with designed rest areas and viewpoints. On this one, Statens vegvesen lists the elevated walkway round Eldhusøya, by Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter, with a café whose windows mimic a glittering school of herring; the hilltop paths on Geitøya, where taxi boats leave for the old fishing village of Håholmen; and, nearer Bud, the glass-walled platform at the end of the breakwater at Askevågen and the paths down to the sea at Kjeksa.
The field notes
Seven bridges or eight
Statens vegvesen’s Scenic Route page speaks of the road curving “from islet to islet over its seven bridges”. Wikipedia and Store norske leksikon count eight; Wikipedia counts the three Hulvågen bridges, 293 metres together, as three. Wikipedia names the Storseisundet Bridge, 260 metres, as the longest.
A second way in
In 2009 the Atlantic Ocean Tunnel opened between Averøy and Kristiansund, Wikipedia records. Together with the Atlantic Ocean Road it gives a second fixed link between Kristiansund and Molde, so the causeways are no longer the only way off the island from the south-west.
One of the road’s low bridges across a sheltered sound, May 2017.
Photograph: dconvertini · Atlanterhavsveien, Norway 20170531 132159 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Low rocks and still water beside the road under a grey July evening sky, 2025.
Photograph: Lukas Beck · CC BY 4.0
Houses by the shore near Eldhusøya, July 2011.
Photograph: Ernst Vikne · Eldhusøya by the Atlantic Ocean Road · CC BY-SA 2.0
Storseisundet seen end-on, where the deck seems to rise off into the sky, April 2013.
Photograph: edward stojakovic · Storseisundet 03 · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Come on a rough day if you can stand it. Calm days are pretty; rough days are why the road is famous.
- Walk the raised path round the little island in the middle and let the wind do what it likes with your hair.
- Leave the fishing spots under the bridges to the people who were there before you.
- Take the boat out to the old fishing station on its rock and stay for the evening.
- Hold on to this notebook on the bridge. This page was retrieved from a puddle.
The Storseisundet Bridge. The longest bridge on the Atlantic Ocean Road, a cantilever 260 metres long with a maximum clearance above the sea of 23 metres and, counting its embankments, a total length of about 750 metres, Wikipedia records. The boundary between Averøy and Hustadvika municipalities runs beneath it. It opened with the rest of the road on 7 July 1989 and carried a toll until June 1999. Statens vegvesen chose a photograph of it to head its page for the route.
Tally, in the marginFrom the shore it looked as if the road climbed into the sky and simply stopped. I was over the top and halfway down before I stopped bracing for the end of it.
Getting there
How to drive it. The causeway section runs between Kårvåg on Averøya and Vevang on the mainland; the Scenic Route continues south-west along the coast to Bud. Statens vegvesen publishes GPS points for both ends, Kårvåg and Bud, and a GPX file of the route. From the north, Averøya is reached from Kristiansund through the Atlantic Ocean Tunnel; from the south, by road from Molde. Statens vegvesen recommends a side trip by boat from Kristiansund to the islands of Grip, about an hour each way.
When to go. Statens vegvesen lists no winter closure for this route, and says the toilets and the Eldhusøya walkway are open all year. The café on Eldhusøya opens daily from 10:00 to 20:00 from 1 June to 31 August, and at weekends and holidays from 11:00 to 17:00 from 1 March to 31 May and from 1 September to 1 November. The road’s reputation is made in rough weather; calm days are easier to drive.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing: there has been no toll since 1999. Statens vegvesen asks that motorhome toilets are not emptied in the rest-area facilities, and names dump stations at Kårvåg, Vevang, Eide, Bud, Kristiansund and Molde.
Safety. The State Department has Norway at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it warns of landslides and avalanches in Norway’s steep mountains and of petty theft in busy tourist spots (advisory dated 6 July 2026 in its feed, read 13 October 2026). The hazards here are the sea itself: waves over the low sections in storms, and slippery rock at the water’s edge. For the road’s status, Statens vegvesen’s traffic line is +47 815 48 991.
Mark this place
Common questions
How long is the Atlantic Ocean Road?
The Atlantic Ocean Road itself is an 8.3-kilometre section of County Road 64 between Kårvåg on Averøya and Vevang, Norway, Wikipedia records. The Norwegian Scenic Route Atlanterhavsvegen, which continues to Bud, is 36 kilometres long, according to Statens vegvesen.
Is there a toll on the Atlantic Ocean Road?
No. The Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway was a toll road when it opened in 1989, but it was paid off by June 1999, far sooner than the fifteen years planned, and the toll was removed, Wikipedia records.
Is the Atlantic Ocean Road open in winter?
Statens vegvesen lists no winter closure for the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway, and says the walkway on Eldhusøya and the toilets there are open every day of the year. Storms can make the low sections dangerous; Statens vegvesen’s traffic line is +47 815 48 991.
How many bridges are on the Atlantic Ocean Road?
Statens vegvesen says the Atlantic Ocean Road has seven bridges; Wikipedia and Store norske leksikon count eight, Wikipedia counting the three Hulvågen bridges separately. The longest, the Storseisundet Bridge, is 260 metres long, with up to 23 metres of clearance above the sea.
When was the Atlantic Ocean Road built?
Construction of the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway began on 1 August 1983, was hit by twelve European windstorms, and finished with the opening on 7 July 1989, Wikipedia records. It cost 122 million kroner.
Where is the Atlantic Ocean Road?
The Atlantic Ocean Road runs between the island of Averøya and the mainland at Vevang, in Averøy and Hustadvika municipalities, Møre og Romsdal county, on Norway’s west coast. It is reached from Kristiansund to the north and Molde to the south.
What is there to stop at on the Atlantic Ocean Road?
Statens vegvesen lists rest areas and viewpoints at Kjeksa, Askevågen, Farstadsanden, Hågå, Myrbærholmbrua, Eldhusøya and Geitøya on the Atlantic Ocean Road Scenic Route; Eldhusøya has an elevated walkway open all year, and boats leave Geitøya for the fishing village of Håholmen.
Why is the Atlantic Ocean Road famous?
The Atlantic Ocean Road crosses open sea on causeways and bridges along Hustadvika, which Statens vegvesen calls one of Norway’s most infamous stretches of sea. The Guardian called it the world’s best road trip in 2006, and Norway protected it as cultural heritage in 2009.